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Synopsis

3100 Run and Become opens in theaters across the United States in August 2018. To request a screening in your city, email us at illuminefilm (at) gmail (d0t) com.

What would you do to transform your life? How far would you go for a metamorphosis? Would you drive, would you fly, would you run?

The most elusive, elite multi-day race in the world, the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, takes place in Queens, New York City each summer. This race is held around one square sidewalk block (0.56 miles) and requires at least 59 miles a day for 52 straight days to complete the event.

The Race promises personal expansion and, indeed, participants come from around the world to shatter their limitations and discover a deeper sense of self. At the same time, the act of running to transform oneself is as old as time. Ancient man and woman ran not just for survival, but to connect with Nature and the Divine.

We follow Aspirants of the Highest from three cultures whose own narratives parallel that of two 3100 Mile Runners – a diminutive paperboy from Finland, Ashprihanal Aalto, and a female cellist from Austria, Shamita Achenbach-Koenig. These three heroic Aspirants (Shaun Martin-Navajo, Gaolo-San Bushmen, Gyoman-san-Monks of Mt. Hiei Japan) run not for glory but for spiritual enlightenment, universal oneness or because they simply have the responsibility to run.

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Training Materials

Seven Steps to a Successful Marathon

Arpan De Angelo completed the 3100 Mile Race in 51 days, 10 hours, 4 minutes and 37 seconds in 2004 at the young age of 52. In this simple pamphlet he offers his tips to making the most (spiritually) of your marathon training.

Question: How can sport and meditation be combined?

Yes, you can get your Zen on while getting miles in. Here are nine tips for making your next run extra-serene (from Runner's World).

New brain training techniques have promise, but motivational self-talk is your best bet for now. (from Runners World)

The distance runner is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in his divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace unique; the everyday eternal.

George Sheehan

Engage

Inspired by the cultural, spiritual and competitive legacy of Native runners, Wings of America strengthens Native youth and their families through running, inspires youth to become mentors for the next generation., encourages Native student achievement and success and reinforces cultural identity and personal value. A Wings survey conducted in 2000, showed a 99% high school graduation rate, with 94% of our participants going on to college. Results of the survey indicated that overall, WOA participants are attaining a higher level of education, have lower incidences of arrests, tend not to abuse alcohol and/or illegal drugs, are waiting until they’re ready to have children, and are more physically active than their same-age peers.

Survival International exists to prevent the annihilation of tribal peoples like the San Bushmen of the Kalahari and to give them a platform to speak to the world so they can bear witness to the genocidal violence, slavery and racism they face on a daily basis. By lobbying the powerful Survival International helps defend the lives, lands and futures of people who should have the same rights as other contemporary societies.